Defense Dominates as No. 10 Field Hockey Downs Cornell 2-1
BOX SCORE
ALBANY, N.Y.- With an important conference show-down on the horizon, No. 10 University at Albany (13-2, 4-1 AE) knocked off Cornell (8-5) 2-1 on Tuesday night at Alumni Turf. Rachel Billig and Paula Heuser recorded goals for the Great Danes.
“It would've been easy for our team to overlook this game with Maine on Friday, but we didn't,” said head coach Phil Sykes. “To play such a talented Cornell team and not give up a penalty corner goal says a lot about our effort tonight. The defense did an incredible job not only stopping our opponent, but building us up for goal-scoring opportunities.”
The Purple & Gold started the game on its heels, surrendering a penalty corner in the first five minutes. As Cornell maneuvered around the circle, Jaclyn Hibbs stepped in to make an early defensive save at the goal line.
Shortly after the first penalty corner scare, the Big Red earned another corner. Cornell's Krysten Mayers got the better end of a blocked rebound, but Fiori Van Rijswijk took the ball out of the air with her stick for a defensive save of her own in the 14th minute.
After two more corners for the Big Red and two consecutive saves for Maxi Primus, the Danes regained their composure. The Purple & Gold controlled the pace of play through the midfield, despite 15 minutes without a shot.
As the end of the half drew near, UAlbany garnered its first penalty corner. An insert from Van Rijswijk and stop by Laura Page resulted in a Paula Heuser shot and defensive save for Cornell.
With confidence building up front, a scramble in front of the cage saw Liza Morgan find Rachel Billig for her third goal of the season. UAlbany would take that 1-0 momentum into halftime.
Despite an early Danes green card in the second half, the Big Red could not take advantage. In response, the Purple & Gold earned a penalty corner at the other end. Freshman Megan Ma inserted, and Fiori Van Rijswijk nearly tapped in a pass on the back side of the cage with 10 minutes gone.
But UAlbany would have more opportunities, as a Van Rijswijk corner put the Danes up 2-0. The senior inserted to classmate Page. Heuser wound up for her 16th goal of the season on a top-shelf shot from the top of the circle.
Two additional penalty corners came up empty for Sykes & co., with a 2-0 lead in hand. The Big Red adjusted their offense to push more players forward, eventually ending the shutout bid in the 67th minute.
With three assists in her last two games, Fiori Van Rijswijk now ranks third all-time in UAlbany program history in career assists with 37. Laura Page leads the career assist ranks with 58 to date. Page is the NCAA Division I active leader in the category.
Paula Heuser is two goals away from breaking the all-time UAlbany career goals record, set in 1999 by Tovah Atwell. The junior also needs just seven points to become the program's all-time leader in career points.
Next up, No. 10 UAlbany field hockey (13-2, 4-1 AE) hosts a crucial America East contest against No. 18 Maine (15-2, 5-0 AE) at Alumni Turf on Friday afternoon at 1:00pm.
